| I will give you some tips to make sure that you | | | | known as nickel silver or German silver) in which |
| are getting what you are paying for, and nothing | | | | case it should be stamped "alpaca". The jewelry |
| else. After all, these things, particularly the large | | | | could even be made of copper or another metal, |
| ones (like silver statues) are heavier and cost | | | | and then electroplated -covered- with a very thin |
| more, and you wouldn't want anything less than | | | | layer of silver, in which case it should be stamped |
| what you are paying for! | | | | "plateado". |
| When you buy jewelry, you want the .925 quality, | | | | In other words, each piece must be marked |
| also called sterling silver. In that case the piece | | | | depending on what material was used in its |
| MUST be stamped in the back or in a | | | | manufacturing and, of course, if sterling silver is |
| not-so-obvious spot (so as to not spoil the beauty | | | | inexpensive in Taxco, alpaca or silver plated pieces |
| of the piece) as proof of its quality. The stamp | | | | will be even less expensive because they have |
| can either be ".925", or a small eagle head, or say | | | | less silver, which is the expensive metal in these |
| "sterling". The above is required by Mexican law to | | | | cases. |
| make sure the buyers do get what they are | | | | When buying holloware, you should be aware of |
| paying for. If it does not have one of the above | | | | the fact that, with international silver prices so |
| marks or stamps, it is not sterling silver. | | | | high nowadays, it is most likely you will only find |
| The .925 comes from the amount of silver in the | | | | silver plated -plateado- pieces, and not pieces that |
| alloy: out of 1000 parts, 925 are silver. Same thing | | | | are made 100% of sterling silver. It is in this case |
| would be for the .950 grade: 950 parts of silver | | | | when you most want to make sure you know |
| every 1000 parts in the alloy. The other metal | | | | what you are buying, as holloware is costly, since |
| has traditionally been copper, 75 parts of it in the | | | | it takes a lot of metal, artisan work and time to |
| case of sterling silver, or just 50 in the higher .950 | | | | make the beautiful pieces, whether made of silver |
| grade. This higher grade will also be stamped in | | | | or another metal. You can find sterling silver |
| the same place the .925 would, but saying .950. | | | | holloware, but it is rare. |
| You can also find beautiful jewelry which is not | | | | Hopefully you now have a better idea of how to |
| sterling (or .925), and it is real nice, too, only you | | | | identify the quality of the pieces you see, and will |
| should be aware of the fact that it is not sterling | | | | be more confident about it. |
| silver and it will either be made of alpaca (also | | | | |